UC #2... but it's not just one thing!

First the dreaded question:
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

My answer:
I honestly haven't written it yet. Yep, I'm writing it on the day of the deadline. I know, that's said to be the dumbest thing in the world to do... I'm not one for narcissism, and while I've read a lot of very nice, very good essays on here I'm afraid I haven't been on any sports teams (well, I was on an ACM programming team that placed horribly because we didn't know what to expect and didn't practice for it).. I haven't gone to any foreign countries - las vegas is the furthest I've been, ironically I've been there 10 times and never gambled..

I grew up with (and still live with) an autistic brother, he was high decently high functioning to begin with, but didn't talk much. Growing up around computers, I wanted him to get into them (as before that, he just played his video games in his free time). That started as an experiment, but it became pretty successful - he learned how to do all sorts of things, even shopping online. My mom felt it was a big enough deal that I should consider writing about it, but I don't know.. How did it shape me? You try doing homework with him doing what he does! I could get my homework done on the deck of an aircraft carrier!

Seriously though, I started highschool off on the wrong foot and it went terribly, but a year after I started, my mom discovered our school district had a home school program. It was a very rough 3 years, but I basically taught myself everything I knew from high school. Because of the bad year in high school, I didn't really believe in myself and had a hard time believing I was doing so much better in the homeschool program, until I started with a few community college classes I had to do in order to graduate on time.

I'm sorry I haven't written these into a formal topic yet, but I feel as if I'm stuck on the two topics - both are probably the most important things I could write about, and I feel almost as if one could twist into the other. I am indeed proud of the progress I've made, and the things I've experimented in to get there.

Would it be acceptable to write about both? I also want to remind you guys that since I'm a transfer student, I don't have the "tell us about your world" question and so this falling into that topic isn't that big a deal.

I'll post my 1st prompt later if you'd like :)

ask your english teacher to help you with it. its a good way to start

I would really like to know more about your brother. Reading about how you taught him how to online shop intrigued me. You sound like you can be humorous and witty; writing about about your brother might bring out more of the witty side of you..and you can still be serious. So I suggest you write about your you and your brother.

My brother Walter is a cool guy, he's 3 years older than I am, when we grew up I was constantly confused with him (not sure how, he was skinnier back in the day).

Anyway, I used to have a bunch of computers, and he liked playing with the one at my dad's office. Remembering this one day, I set up a computer at his desk - it was a bit too old, but he liked it until he got bored of it. Of course a few years later I had a better spare to give him, so I set him up with that, only this time it was connected to the internet.

He'd watch what I did on my computer, and got the hang of it very quickly. I'd put my music on his computer, and then he'd ask for stuff he heard on the radio - this was fine with me, though he does it a bit too much now.

Anyway, one day he discovered the joys of online shopping. This wasn't particularly a new concept, one time he got a hold of the phone and called Ronco to order one of those countertop rotissaries - they contacted me a few days later telling me that he said I was interested, and asked if I wanted to purchase one.

This was nothing - not long after, my mother got a call from a bus company asking for my brother Walter. He had filled out an inquiry form about looking into buying a used city bus! lol. When the guy found out my brother was autistic, he was totally nice about it and surprised, nonetheless it was a funny experience.

Anyway, we got him more oriented, the funny things stopped but he currently enjoys his iMac - it's like his best window to the outside world. He uses Hulu and Youtube among other websites to watch TV or whatever he finds funny, and has an itunes library as I do - I have yet to try it, but I think if I gave him an iTunes card he'd have a bit of fun with that.

It's funny, because nowadays he'll actually show me websites I've never seen before - like last.fm... The best part is he's such a good learner from example - and he can figure out stuff on his own too, I wish my oldest brother DJ could do that when it comes to updating his computer.

It is a pain sometimes, he likes to sing out TV advertisement jingles and it can be the biggest distraction in the world. None of my friends ever want to come to my house to hang out (particularly when studying is involved), because of that. The family arrangement is unbreakable (my father died 10 years ago and only my mother, 2 brothers, and myself live here). If I left, it would be a huge stress both financially and .. every other way imaginable.

Anyway, hrm.. I suppose I could stick the homeschool bit in the additional comments. Would it be corny to basically say this life has made me harder working and more dedicated, and I'm proud of that?

A little more backstory here, I will probably paste in what I made last night for prompt 1 (As I'm transferring from a community college in CA it's the one about what major you have decided on) - I'm interested in being an Electrical Engineer (of the Computer Science type...) for almost the exact reason.

I want to help make the world a better place, whether it be doing research on advanced human interface devices (those brainwave scanning devices), extended space travel research with some interesting new technology (I almost wanted to do aerospace engineering).. or just simple things like making the tiny powerful computers we take for granted in our ipods and zunes that were all but a pipedream just 5 years ago.

So that's in the first part..

9010.us/ucap11.txt
[This is going to get edited and you will probably see it change]

Thanks guys! :) Much appreciated.

Work on tying your paragraphs and subjects together with some kind of common denominator.